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Monday, May 20, 2013

Pangkor - Part 2

Showtime!With the humidity in the air, I could barely sleep.The heat caused my nose to drip and man, it was a night of suffering.Nevertheless, we weathered the night and woke up at 5am in the morning.That was my queue to hit the toilet and bathroom.The bikes were already rigged up and as daybreak approaches, I got a glimpse of the Marina Island development.This is a township on its own, self-sufficient.But I guess its kinda in the slump as there were no big developments in the area.Lumut, as it seems, is not ready to grow, but I think in the years to come, this will be the place.Patric suggested a boat ride from the Marina's ferry terminal which is about 1km away from his shophouse.After locking up the place, we set out to the ferry terminal.

A view of the Marina area from Patric's property

Membership fees required..To use the Marina ferry services, one must be a member of the Marina Club. That is the pre-requisite requirement.Its a yearly RM10 fee and a return fare to Pangkor (about 10-mins boat ride) is RM10.For bikes, there is no need to pack it up as a flat rate of RM3 is charged per journey.And just when we thought we were early, the ferry was already filling up.We took the 07:15 ride to Pangkor.The cabin was filled with tourists and it took about 10 minutes for the boat to reach the island's main ferry terminal.

Registering as a member and getting the ferry tickets

Loading up the bikes on the boat

Pangkor, re-visited...

The last time I was in Pangkor was 25 years ago.Man, that is a long, long time.I don't have any reasons to go there except for cycling my folding bike around the island.Prior to this, I have been day-dreaming a lot about cycling in Pangkor.Now, its a reality.We got off the ferry and headed straight to town for breakfast.Patric knew just the right place for makan.We took some pictures at the island's fire station and the sight of a Hornbill perched on a tree was a welcoming sight!

At the fire station

The Hornbill

Well, basically, I can't connect the Pangkor in present day to the place I visited in the past.As a Boy Scout, I used to camp at one of the beach area.This place was dirty and well, is still as dirty as ever.My main interest was the cycling route in the island.Patric had suggested a harder route via Sg Pinang Besar to Teluk Dalam.Hills that kills..Michelle and I have been out of action for at least two months.We are really unfit and didn't want to over exert ourselves in this ride.Although its a simple 28km ride, there were enough slopes with 10% gradient and more to slow down any experienced riders.I must say that towards the 5th km, we struggled a bit to get to the top of the hill before descending down to Teluk Dalam.

Rolling out to Sg Pinang Besar

These signs are all over the island

The steep hill after Sg Pinang Kecil proved to be a tough climb

When you are literally leaning forward to push your bike up a hill, there is no shame in doing it slowly.We rode with our backpacks and if this was some touring ride, I guess we will be pushing even harder.Michelle said she had some issues with her brakes. I've just had them tuned and the brake pads replaced.But the fast descend proved to be a real test on the bikes and its brakes.My Ashima disk brakes held up very well as the Garmin EDGE800 bicycle GPS had recorded the top speed at 62.9km/h.The elevation gain in this area was 333metres with a maximum elevation of 130metres.So, that said, the Northern side of the island is hilly.Most cyclists would head Southwest towards Pasir Bogak and Teluk Nipah.After descending to Teluk Dalam, we took a break in the area to enjoy the scenery..